Tv Show Helps Catch A Naperville Fugitive

A fugitive Naperville butcher convicted in a 1985 murder-for-hire plot was arrested early Saturday in Maryland less than five hours after his story appeared on a national television crime show.

William Joseph Moore, 51, who had faked his death while out on bail, was arrested at his mobile home in Edgewood, Md., at 1 a.m. after hundreds of callers to the show identified him as a butcher and darts champion at a bar in Aberdeen, Md.

FBI agents and officials of the Harford County Sheriff`s Department in Maryland said Moore initially gave a false name, but admitted his identity after being told he would be taken in for questioning.

``It was one of our quickest captures,`` said Phil Lerman, an editor of

``America`s Most Wanted,`` the television program that featured Moore`s case. The segment ran here at 8 p.m. Friday, Lerman said.

Moore disappeared in 1985 while out on bail on charges of attempted murder in the beating and attempted strangulation of Carol Hamman of Naperville, according to the FBI.

According to court testimony, Hamman`s husband, Lloyd, in 1985 offered Moore, who then operated Moore`s Meats in Naperville, $25,000 to make his wife ``disappear,`` fearing she would win a hefty financial award in a pending divorce case.

Moore agreed to the arrangement, and in October 1985, he and an accomplice beat Carol Hamman with a gun butt and attempted to strangle her with a telephone cord.

Hamman survived the attack. Lloyd Hamman later pleaded guilty to attempted murder and agreed to testify against Moore and his accomplice, Donald Scherzer, who is serving a 14-year sentence in Danville. Hamman got nine years at East Moline.

Before Moore could be tried, he disappeared while out on bond. Police found his motorcycle parked in Kankakee along a bridge over the Kankakee River and his helmet in the river, suggesting he had drowned. They were convinced, however, that his death had been faked, especially when no body was found.

``It looked like such a phony deal,`` said Carmen Polo, the assistant Du Page state`s attorney who prosecuted Moore.

Moore was later convicted in absentia of attempted murder and sentenced to 30 years in state prison. His file remained open until Saturday.

Carol Hamman, who appeared on the television program, said Saturday from her home in Florida that she was relieved by his capture.

Moore, who had been living under the name Joseph Bartello, faces extradition to Illinois.

He was the 126th fugitive captured as a result of tips from viewers of the show, according to Lerman. He said the show had received ``hundreds and hundreds`` of calls about Moore after the episode aired.